1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electric connectors. More particularly, the present invention relates to electric connectors such as a pin header, a plug and the like, to be connected at one end to an electric element and to be soldered at the other end to conductors on a printed circuit board.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional electric connectors are largely divided into two types. One type is pin headers having male contacts and the other type is plugs having female contacts.
As the conventional pin headers, there are known those having one side constituting male contacts and the other side constituting terminal portions to pass through holes of a printed circuit board and to be soldered to conductors on the back side of the printed circuit board. Also as the conventional plugs, there are known those having a similar structure to that of the conventional pin headers.
Thus, in the conventional pin headers and plugs, the terminal portions are to pass through the holes of a printed circuit board. This causes various problems. That is, a relatively large surface area is required for the printed circuit board; the dimensions of the holes of the printed circuit board are limited and the distance between the holes can not be made sufficiently small; consequently, the shape of pin header or plug is restricted and their size can not be made sufficiently small; hence, a general requirement of making an intended equipment compact can not be met. Further, fixing of such a pin header or plug is fairly troublesome.